Think back to that day when you received Communion for the very first time. It was no doubt a very special day in your life. If you were a child raised in the Catholic tradition, it was likely a time of celebration with fam- ily and friends: a time for brand new clothing, a big party, maybe even with gifts, and lots of attention paid to you because for the very first time, you were joining the family and community at the Table of the Eucharist.

At our Easter Vigil on March 26, three of our young people received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and two of them received Eucharist for the first time. This weekend 29 more young people will join us at the Table of the Eucharist for the first time at the 5 p.m. Mass at St. Albert the Great and at the 10:30 a.m. Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary. They have worked diligently over the past year to prepare themselves for this special day, and I know they eagerly look forward to that moment when they will be able to join the rest of the community in the Eucharistic Banquet. They will stand before the community and joyfully proclaim their faith and then take their rightful place with us at the table.

As we witness these beautiful Children of God receiving the sacrament for the first time, let us join with them and re-embrace Eucharist as the amaz- ing and miraculous gift that it is for each of us. At each and every Mass, a miracle happens, and Jesus becomes fully present to us in the gathered assembly, in the Word that is proclaimed, in the person of the priest who presides, and, most importantly, in the bread and wine that become His Precious Body and Precious Blood. This is what Jesus asked us to do, and in so doing we are transformed. Let us embrace this beautiful sacrament with a newness of heart and re-commitment to our faith.

 

Susan Lee Olsen, Director of Catechetical Ministry